


Snow Angels

by ihaveacleverfandomurl



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Christmas, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe, Sleepovers, Snowball Fight, we're pulling out aLL the winter tropes babey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:12:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21778102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihaveacleverfandomurl/pseuds/ihaveacleverfandomurl
Summary: The Foxes aren’t going to let Neil spend Christmas alone this time.
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 14
Kudos: 239
Collections: AFTG Exchange Winter 2019





	Snow Angels

**Author's Note:**

  * For [howmanyshipscanashippership](https://archiveofourown.org/users/howmanyshipscanashippership/gifts).



> Gift for @[me-theaceupmysleeve](https://me-theaceupmysleeve.tumblr.com/) on tumblr for the Winter AFTG Exchange! You asked for Andreil, Renison, and fluffy platonic Foxes having snowball fights & a Christmas sleepover so here, have some, bud!! *chanting* foxpile foxpile foxpile foxpile  
> Thanks to @[poetic_ivy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetic_ivy/)/[keys-crows-dreamers-scones](https://keys-crows-dreamers-scones.tumblr.com/) for bein my first ever beta!! Bless u Eli, for cheerleadin & helpin me and for your super cute Andreil ideas for when I was stuck! I adore u!! & thanks to the mods for organizing!!  
> (ps how many times do I use the word snow in this fic??? ooh you don’t wanna know)

Neil had no chance. The shot was uninhibited, quick, clean, and the culprit lay in hiding behind a deep snowdrift in the dim evening light. Neil dropped immediately at the hit to the face. On his knees, slipping across the icy walkway of Abby’s house to claw at his eyes, he came away with —

Fistfuls of snow?

Nicky’s triumphant crow of laughter interrupted the panic that had been scrabbling its way up Neil’s throat. A multitude of snowballs were suddenly raining down on Neil as he ducked behind a white-dusted bush. He could hear more Foxes — Matt yelling, Dan snickering, Kevin harping loudly on everyone’s aim.

Right. A snowball fight. That was…that was what this was.

The door opened again, but the Foxes were still lobbing snowballs in Neil’s direction. There was no time to stop.

Neil heard the distinctive puff of snow exploding against a body, Andrew’s muffled curse, and somebody across the yard quietly say, “Oh, fuck.”

The snow beside Neil’s bush crunched under Andrew’s feet as he stomped to collect a heavy handful and snap a snowball back at the opposition, his dark coat covered in melting powder. Neil hissed his name, and Andrew sidestepped into a crouch to hide with him.

Andrew’s face was already flushed, his hat dotted with white. He blew bangs out of his eyes as he took in Neil’s equally snowy appearance, and reached up to comb stray flakes from Neil’s hair. “Should we kill them?”

“I’ve never had a snowball fight before,” Neil said, as Andrew scooped up more snow from between them. Andrew raised an eyebrow and held out the snowball.

“Then let’s win your first one, junkie.”

***

Aaron was the first to fall under Neil’s careful aim, and Andrew backed Neil up with a fastball directly to Kevin’s nose. Dan got in another shot that Andrew almost managed to deflect, but Matt and Nicky’s snowballs went wide as Neil dove to avoid them.

Neil and Andrew were definitely winning when Matt decided to play dirty and jumped from behind his own cover to throw _himself_ at Neil, taking him down into a thick bank of snow. Dan was quick to follow, tugging an unwilling Kevin with her to pile on Neil. Nicky jumped on top.

Renee and Allison’s entrance to the scene was marked by a shriek from the porch — Allison had caught a stray snowball from the twins’ continued fight. There was another yell as Renee instantly returned fire on her girlfriend’s assailant. Aaron was still wiping away snow from her shot when Allison called, “Abby went to bed, but she left hot cocoa for you all, assholes!”

Cold Foxes piled onto the porch, passing around warm mugs and stamping snow from shoes and coats. Neil accepted his cup with the plan to pass it off to Andrew when he’d finished his, but the whipped cream and frothy chocolate was tempting enough for a single sip.

Much too sweet. Neil grimaced, and Andrew — standing in front of him, pressed close to accommodate the whole team in the small space — stared, eyes fixed on Neil’s face.

“What?” mumbled Neil, holding out the mug in offering. Andrew’s eyes narrowed, and he ignored the cocoa in favor of letting a thumb hover at Neil’s lip.

“Can I?”

Neil blinked. They were surrounded by their teammates, but standing at the corner of the porch, they went largely unnoticed by the rest. Even so, Andrew wasn’t one for many public displays of affection. “Yeah?”

Andrew’s touch was gentle, thumb coming away flecked with whipped cream. He licked it off and Neil felt his face heat pleasantly as the porch chatter quieted, but Andrew turned away to sip at his cocoa again, ignoring them all.

***

Christmas Eve spent at Abby’s hadn’t been the original plan for everyone. But the upperclassmen had wanted to stick around for Neil’s first real Christmas and Andrew had rolled his eyes when Neil asked where he was planning to go. The rest of Andrew’s group, of course, had fallen in line behind him.

Now, slightly damp Foxes gathered around Abby’s fireplace in pajamas and sleeping bags with more hot chocolate, still rowdy enough for gentle roughhousing over stealing of cocoa and marshmallows, but slowly calming down and huddling closer together. The atmosphere was remarkably cozy compared to their usual dynamic, Neil mused from where he leaned in the doorway to the living room. Nicky reached over to pet Andrew’s hair, who immediately smacked his hand away. Nicky turned a pout on Neil — who’d been tasked to gather the last bag of marshmallows — and brightened.

“Neil, Neil, come here!” Nicky’s eyes were glinting with something playful. Neil approached warily, holding the marshmallows out to shield himself. But instead of some kind of attack of affection, Nicky brandished…a sprig of mistletoe.

Nicky waggled the plant over Andrew’s head and gave Neil an exaggerated wink. “Oops, looks like you have to —”

Andrew snatched the marshmallows to smack Nicky with them even as Neil grabbed for the mistletoe to crumple it into his pocket. “ _No_ , Nicky.”

“Not even in the holiday spirit? Fine, fine, then, pass it on. I nominate Allison and Renee to take your place, unless Kevin is feeling as lonely as I am?”

Kevin rolled his eyes, but Renee reached for Allison’s collar to pull her in for a firm peck as Allison flipped off the rest of the laughing team. Soon, Nicky’s original mistletoe targets were quickly forgotten in favor of a hotly contested choice of which Christmas movie to watch.

Neil tried to focus on the screen as he dropped to sit next to Andrew, but Andrew’s hyper focus on the marshmallows he’d hoarded for himself made Neil quietly ask, “You okay?”

Andrew turned eyes on him, merely holding out a marshmallow. Neil read it for the silent appreciation of the check-in that it was. He smiled but shook his head and settled closer, the sky darkening outside as, one by one, Foxes began drifting off to the tune of soft Christmas carols playing from the TV.

***

The room was barely lit when Neil woke to a hand on his shoulder — the fire had been reduced to embers and someone must have flipped off the TV and all the lights long ago. Moonlight was the only thing catching the curve of Andrew’s cheekbone and the curl of his eyelashes where he knelt above Neil, holding both their jackets.

Neil shook off sleep and accepted the coat without question, tugging it on as they picked their way between soundly sleeping bundles of blankets.

The night air was bitingly cold. It sent a shiver down Neil’s spine as he rocked back on his heels to watch flakes drifting from the clouds. The evidence of the Foxes’ snowball fight had been almost completely covered now, softened by snowfall in the hours since. Neil caught a flake on his tongue, but Andrew’s huff brought his gaze down to meet brown eyes. Andrew was pink-faced again, mouth curled sideways in perplexing irritation. Neil caught Andrew’s gloved fingers in his and tilted his head in question, and Andrew narrowed his eyes again and tugged at Neil’s hand with surprising strength.

They tumbled without elegance into the snowscape, kicking up flurries and sinking in deep. Neil yelped his way into surprised laughter as he landed on Andrew’s chest.

“Shut up,” Andrew said as Neil pushed himself up to shiver and grin down at him. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Then _you_ don’t,” Neil returned cheekily, and got shoved into his own snow pile for his efforts.

When Neil sat up, Andrew was lazily sweeping his arms and legs across the snow and he raised an eyebrow at Neil, daring him to comment. Neil just smiled and fell back to carve out his own snow angel, pulling his limbs in when the cold bit into his bare hands. His gaze found the moon, half obscured by the snow-heavy clouds now, and he smiled wider when Andrew crawled into view above him.

Andrew’s hand crept into Neil’s pocket to intertwine their fingers for half a moment, then withdrew to hold out his prize: the wilted, bent piece of mistletoe.

Neil wrapped his own hand around Andrew’s wrist as the mistletoe tipped into the snow between them, and answered the silent question a breath away from Andrew’s lips.

“ _Yes._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@ foxy-exy](https://foxy-exy.tumblr.com/)!


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